


Are Those Two..No It Can't Be

by minikyojin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2018-12-30 04:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12100749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minikyojin/pseuds/minikyojin
Summary: After a hard day of training, Keith decided to stay back to get some more work in, while Shiro stayed behind to keep an eye on him. Much to Lance's dismay, this kind of thing wasn't entirely new, and he was ready to give Keith a piece of his mind about the whole thing. But when he goes back to see what Keith and Shiro were up to, he questions if what he saw was actually...what he saw. Were Shiro and Keith much closer than he first thought?He's obviously just imagining it, but what happens when not only Lance, but everyone else starts to notice Shiro and Keith's relationship that they were oblivious of until now. Will the team distance themselves over this new discovery, or will be like they always have been?





	1. And so it begins

“Phew! I’m wiped out.” Lance groaned, his body turning into a rag doll as he slumped down into an exhausted pile on the ground.

The team had just finished up their training for the day, and while over time it has gotten more and more doable, it still left Lance in a world of hurt when it was all over.

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready for a good snooze fest now.” Lance stated, sticking his hand up in the air to give a thumbs up, getting unimpressed stares from everyone else.

“You say that after every training Lance.” Pidge replied, walking over to Lance giving him a light kick on the side, unimpressed with his repeat antics, making Lance wince slightly.

“Rude.” He huffed before sitting up, wincing again as he moved.

“Welp, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m in the mood for something to eat.” Hunk stated, eying the exit with a sliver of drool trying to sneak its way out of his mouth.

“I could go for a bite too.” Pidge answered, a hand rubbing her stomach, clearly in the need for something to eat.

As if on cue, Lance’s stomach let out a loud growl, catching everyone’s attention, and making Lance’s face heat up slightly. “Well, I guess I can grace you guys with my presence and join you.” Lance hopped up on his feet, stumbling a bit as he tried to regain his footing before catching himself, and brushing himself off.

As the three of them started to head out of the training area, Pidge glanced back to see that Shiro and Keith were staying behind, seeming like they were talking to each other about something.

“You guys not coming?” Pidge asked, making Hunk and Lance look back to see what Pidge saw.

Shiro and Keith shared a glance at each other for a moment before answering.

“I’m going to stay here and get some more training in.” Keith stated before making his way back to the center of the training arena.

Shiro watched him walk off before giving a small chuckle. “I’ll stay and make sure he doesn’t overwork himself.” Shiro gave them a wave before following Keith.

Pidge and Hunk shrugged before leaving, while Lance just looked back at Shiro and Keith, giving a quizzical glare.

“Hey Lance you comin’?” Hunk asked, practically out the door.

Lance didn’t answer, but followed Hunk and Pidge out to the kitchen.

\------------------------

“Who does he think he is? Staying back and training more as if he’s the king of the world or something.” Lance mumbled as he was stuffing his face with some food that Hunk had made, much to Hunk and Pidge’s dismay.

“What’s the big deal? He does that all the time.” Pidge asked, hesitating to eat while she was watching Lance attempt to properly chew his food.

“Exactly! Every time we finish up with something, Keith has to be all, ‘Oh look at me, I’m Keith. I can do this 10 times more than you, meh meh meh.” Lance said, stabbing his spoon into his food to try and vent out his frustration about the whole situation, much to Hunks horror, making him quickly reach over and swipe the food out from under Lance.

“Okay, have to stop you there. I mean I get you have this whole ‘I hate Keith’ thing going on, but that’s no excuse to take it out on perfectly good food.” Hunk quipped before putting Lance’s former food in front of him and Pidge, much to Pidge’s delight now that she could finally eat.

“I don’t hate him. I just-...UGH.” Lance resisted the urge to punch the table out of frustration. “And now he’s got Shiro staying behind with him. Who knows what the two of them are doing?!”

“Well, what do you think they’re doing?” Pidge asked, her cheeks full of Hunk’s delicious food.

Lance just sat there in silence, contemplating on what he actually did think the two of them were doing. After some thought, without a word, he jolted up out of his seat, startling Pidge and Hunk and nearly making them spill their food.

“You know what! I’m gonna go find out!” Lance stormed out of the dining hall, leaving Pidge and Hunk confused, but happy that they could now eat in peace.

\------------------------

Lance was storming through the hallway, making a beeline for the training hall, running random lines he wanted to say through his head he wanted to say to Keith when he made it to him, but wasn’t able to pick one and stick with it. Before he knew it, he was already standing outside the training hall’s door. 

He could hear Keith’s bayard slashing and striking numerous training robots on the other side of the door, without any break in between each strike, and that just made Lance feel even more heated.

How can you keep that up after what we all went through? Where’s all his energy come from?

Somehow, he motivated himself to go through the training hall doors, ready to give Keith an earful, but once he stepped through the doors, he froze in his tracks.

They were pretty far from where he was, but he could see the silhouette of Keith’s body weave in and out of training robots, dodging and cutting through any that got in his way, with Shiro watching from afar. It nearly sent a chill down Lance spine as he watched Keith’s movements. He never paid attention to Keith whenever they were training, so seeing his actual technique, while not up close and personal, was...Lance didn’t know what to call it.

The number of training robots slowly started to die down as Keith cut through them all, leaving nothing but blue smoke behind as they fell. Soon there were only 2 left, both surrounding Keith, and going in for a simultaneous attack, making it so Keith couldn’t block both at the same time. Right when the two robots were about to attack Keith, he ducked out of the way at the last possible moment, making the robots attack each other, exploding in a puff of blue smoke and making Keith fall to the ground when he couldn’t catch his footing from the dodge.

Lance couldn’t help but snicker at the sight, and was about to head inside when he saw Shiro make his way over to Keith, offering him a hand.

“You did pretty good out there.” Shiro stated as Keith grabbed his hand and pulled himself up. “Though you need to work on your blindspot.”

At this point Shiro was almost completely blocking Keith from Lance’s view, though he could still, somehow, hear them from where he was. It seems like neither of them noticed that he was there yet.

“Yeah. I’ll work on that.” It was faint, but Keith was clearly showing signs that he was out of breath, trying his best to cover it up. Though it seemed to not get past Shiro.

“You’re overworking yourself. There’s no shame in resting once in a while.” Shiro’s voice softened as he saw Keith’s exhausted state.

“I’m fine. Seriously.” He tried to make his way past Shiro, but Shiro wasn’t going to let him off that easily as he placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder to make him stop in his tracks.

“Keith. If you continue like this it’ll do more harm than good. I’m sure you know that.” Keith refused to look Shiro in the eyes as he spoke, his eyes forcing themselves to stay open as if they’re fighting to make him stay awake.

“I know you’re right… but-”

Shiro cut him off before he could continue. “No ‘buts’. Right now, you need to go back and rest before you over exert yourself.”

Keith didn’t respond, and instead just looked up at Shiro with tired eyes before falling onto Shiro’s chest, surprising not only Shiro, but Lance as well, who was just sitting back watching in awe and...confusion?

Keith had passed out on Shiro, he was out like a light, as if he fell asleep right when his head hit Shiro’s chest. Lance didn’t think that Keith was even capable of understanding the word “relaxing”, and now he’s just using Shiro as his own personal body pillow? ...Wait…

Lance had to do a double take to make sure he saw that right.

Yep. Keith is asleep on Shiro, and was Shiro...hugging him? No way, that can’t be right. Lance had to squint to try and make out everything.

Shiro was holding a passed out Keith close to his chest, resting his head on top of Keith’s and were just standing there in silence, and Lance couldn’t muster up the nerve to ask what was going on. Soon Shiro picked up Keith, carrying him in his arms and started to make his way out of the training hall, causing Lance to start to panic.

He bolted out of the doorway and hid behind a column as Shiro made his way out into the hallway, still carrying a passed out Keith, and made his way to Keith’s room. Lance wanted desperately to follow them, but couldn’t bring his body to do that, and just sat there and watched as Shiro slowly left his line of sight.

“What was that just now?” Lance asked himself, trying to figure out what that was he just saw. 

He didn’t notice anything like that between the two of them before, but maybe that’s because he just didn’t notice. Maybe he was just overthinking it. It was just a hug, or something that looked like it. 

Yeah that had to be it.

Lance was just seeing things and his mind was playing tricks on him. Or was it.

“Are those two...no...it can’t be.”


	2. How can you not see it!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is still trying to wrap his head around what he saw in the training deck. Was he overthinking things, or was his assumptions justified? Whatever the case, he was committed now and he was going to take everyone else down this rabbit hole with him.

Pidge and Hunk let out pleasured moans as they finished with their meals, slouching back in their chairs as if they were trying to become one with it in the ultimate feat of relaxation.

“I gotta hand it to ya Hunk, that was probably one of your best meals.” Pidge sighed, peaking at her plate for any chance of a scrap being left behind.

“Now, I don’t mean to brag, but I must admit that not everyone can make a meal out of the random globs of gook Coran keeps in the cabinets.” Hunk stated confidently, picking at his teeth to get anything unwanted out.

“We should get this place cleaned up before everyone gets back.” Pidge suggested, begrudgingly picking herself up from her seat, groaning quietly for getting up for her comfortable position.

“You’re right. The downside of cooking, the cleanup.” Hunk swayed from side to side to get himself up out of his seat, then he and Pidge started to pick up all their plates.

Of course when they picked up every last dish, Lance comes bursting through the dining hall doors.

“GUYS!” He shouted, making Pidge and Hunk jump out of their skin, dropping all their plates on the floor, causing some to shatter on impact, just adding to the cluster of loud noises.

“What’s happening?! We under attack? The castle trying to kill again? What’s going on?!” Hunk shrieked, instinctively jumping into an, amateurish, fighting stance.

“What? No no no. It’s Shiro and Keith.”

“What about them?” Pidge asked, giving Hunk a hard pat on the back to snap him out of his shocked state.

“On the training deck. They were-uh…” Lance didn’t really know how to phrase it properly without sounding completely crazy.

“C’mon man, just spit it out.” Hunk stated, finally coming down from his shocked state.

Lance tried to think of how to get his thoughts together, but gave up after a few seconds and threw his hands up in frustration, causing Pidge and Hunk to be more confused than they were before.

“Come here-” He grabbed Hunk and Pidge by the wrists, and started to drag them out of the room.

\------------------------

Coran and Allura were looking over one of the star maps of some of the nearby planets when Lance came barreling through, dragging Pidge and Hunk with him, startling Allura, and completely scaring Coran.

“What’s going on here?” Allura asked, unsure of what was going to happen.

“Oh you know, Lance losing his mind, the usual.” Pidge shrugged off getting a glare from Lance.

“Lance what’s wrong?”

“Coran, can you pull up video feed from the training deck from earlier today?” Lance asked, brushing off the little insult Pidge gave.

“Sure, though it will take a few tics.” Coran replied, starting to type on the castle’s computer.

“Okay seriously Lance, what’s going on?” Hunk was clearly showing some frustration with Lance, but was trying his best to hold back his annoyance.

“Okay so you know how I left lunch to go give Keith a piece of my mind?”

“Yeah, you were throwing a temper tantrum.” Pidge smirked.

“Thank you Pidge.” Lance shot Pidge another glare, who just shrugged it off. “Anyway I saw Keith chopping through those Altean robot things - which for the record, I could have taken them out in half the time, thank you very much - and Shiro was just sitting there watching-”

“So like you were doing?” Hunk asked, trying to make sense of things.

“Not the point. Anyway when it was all said and done Keith just passed out.”

“Sounds like poor fella worked himself to death there-Ah here we are.” Coran pulled up video feed of the training deck, showing Keith cutting through some of the training robots.

“Wow, he’s really kicking butt.” Hunk stated, him and everyone else staring up in awe at his fighting, much to Lance’s dismay.

“Yes his technique has vastly improved to say the least.” Allura seemed to be the most surprised at Keith’s improvement, and that’s the thing that really got under Lance’s skin.

“Okay, enough of that.” Lance shoved Coran out of the way, and push random buttons until he figured out which one fast forwarded, and skipped over to the part where Keith fell on Shiro’s chest. “There! Right there!” Lance vigorously pointed at the video, showing Shiro holding Keith close to his chest.

“Wow, he’s really wiped out.” Pidge stated, not seeing what Lance was seeing apparently, with everyone else nodding in agreement.

“Wha-, no no no. Not Keith. Look at Shiro!” Lance climbed up on the control panel, much to Coran and Allura’s dismay. “Am I crazy, or are these two hugging for way too long?”

Everyone else stared at the screen, more confused than when they started.

“Well, you’re definitely your own kind of crazy, but they are hugging an awful long time.” Pidge stated, adjusting her glasses, seeming to start to get what Lance was getting at.

“Well I guess but maybe Shiro’s just really tired to-” Hunk said but cut himself off when he saw Shiro pick up Keith and start to leave the training deck. “Ah-well, nevermind then.”

“You see!” Lance had a moment to feel proud about what he pointed out, but that was short lived as he fell off the control panel with a hard thud.

“Even if we see what you’re getting at Lance, what’s the point?” Pidge asked, actually going along with Lance’s outbursts now.

Lance peaked up from behind the control panel to look at everyone, “Well, don’t you think it’s weird?”

“Apologies, but I don’t know what’s so strange about this.” Allura didn’t know how to address the situation, having joining it halfway through.

Lance hopped over from behind the control panel, trying to stand confident after his fall. “Well if it was just them for a moment or something, I wouldn’t pay much attention to it. But the fact they were like that for so long is just-”

“What’s wrong with how long they hugged for?” Allura instantly regretted the question as Lance shot her one of his signature “flirty” looks that always made her skin crawl.

“Well you see, when I saw it, it made me think ‘Man, I wish I could hold the princess that long,” He slid over closer to Allura, still giving her the look. “Offer still stands now, by the way.” Allura just rolled her eyes, and refused to look at Lance in this state, and decided to focus her attention on the, now looping, video of Shiro and Keith.

“Well they are pretty close. I mean it’s been like that since we all randomly met up in the beginning, you know?” Hunk said, kind of in the same boat as Pidge where he saw where Lance was going with this, but couldn’t fully be behind it.

“Well yeah, I know you have a point…” Lance’s small burst of confidence started to drain, “But I mean I never really paid attention to it before ya know? And just, I don’t know it felt weird to see.”

“I’m not sure what relationship customs you lot have on Earth,” Coran interjected, starting to twirl his mustache in intrigue. “But compared the relationships I saw back when I was a wee lad back on Altea, this seems to be quite the normal interaction.”

“I think the shock of you seeing a new side to the two of them was just a shock to you.” Pidge suggested, giving up on giving Lance a hard time on this.

“I guess you’re right.” Lance felt a bit defeated by the statement, but he was sure it was true. When things died down, Shiro came in, making Lance and Coran simultaneously panic to turn off the video so he wouldn’t see it.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked, seeing everyone crowded around the castle’s control panel.

“Oh ya know. Checkin’ out star maps and, all that junk.” Lance said, trying to sound convincing but fooling no one.

“Where’s Keith?” Pidge asked, trying to help Lance by putting the focus on her instead.

“He’s asleep in his room for now. Apparently he hasn’t been sleeping that well lately, so until further notice, he’s going to rest.”

“Heh, sound like you just grounded him or something.” Hunk joked, getting a short, but unimpressed look from Shiro.

“Coran, are there any planets nearby we can stop at to pick up some supplies for the castle?” Shiro asked as he made his way over to the control panel, making Lance jump out of the way out of reflex, making Shiro give a worried and concerned look, but focused back on Coran.

“Ah yes, we’ve got a few to choose from actually.” Coran pulled up some maps, highlighting two planets. “These are our best bets for simple supply grabs.”  
“They’ve shown no strong signs of the Galra, but it’s best to go in with the utmost caution.” Allura added, getting an affirmed nod from everyone else.

“Alright then it’s settled. Hunk and Pidge you’ll go to this one and pick up any pieces we might need for future use on the castle.”

“You got it.” Pidge and Hunk gave a wave before leaving for Hunk’s lion.

“So then Lance and I will go to this planet and see if we can get anything in terms of food and short use supplies.”

“Wait, us?” Lance was confused that Shiro actually offered to go with him on something this time around.

“We could use the opportunity to travel together. Besides, there’s a few things we need to talk about.” Lance didn’t like the sudden serious turn that was implied, but it’s not like he could just turn down Shiro’s offer to have one on one time with him.

“Right, I guess, we should get going then.” Lance started to head to the hanger to go to his lion, but Shiro stayed behind for a minute and spoke with Coran and Allura. They seemed to have a serious look on their face, and when Shiro was done talking they both gave a nod, and Shiro made his way over to Lance.

“What was that all about?”

“It’s nothing. Just making sure that we were all on the same page of when to come back since we didn’t really discuss it before Pidge and Hunk left.” Lance could feel like Shiro was lying, but he didn’t have the nerve to bring it up and just went along with it. “Alright, we should get going.”  
Shiro took the lead now, making Lance stay back for a second to look back at Allura and Coran, who were now focused on the control panel.

“Right.” Without another word, Lance followed Shiro so they could travel in his lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends, you made it passed chapter 2  
> I'm proud of you
> 
> I want to clarify something real quick about this fic I didn't realize until finishing this  
> This fic isn't taking place in the current Voltron timeline [i.e. Season 3]  
> This more takes place somewhere around Season 1/2, so keep that in mind from here on out
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying this  
> I'll try and update fast so you can see where this is going, and if you enjoyed leave a comment so I know I'm doing this with a purpose XD


	3. Figuring Things Out - Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Shiro and Lance going off on their own, just the two of them, Lance wants to take the opportunity to see what was up, but at the same time, he was afraid of what Shiro wants to talk to him about. Will it end badly for Lance, or will he get some answers on what Shiro and Keith's relationship is really like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this chapter is a bit late. Real life drama took over, but it's here now! I tried to add more to this chapter to make up for the wait, so I hope you guys enjoy ^^

Lance was at a bit of an impasse right now. On one hand, he finally got some one on one time with Shiro. His hero. Something he wanted to do ever since he joined the garrison, and now he finally had the chance. 

But on the other hand, Shiro wanted to have a “talk” with him. He knew what that meant all too well, seeing as he had his own fair share of “talks” back home, none were all too pleasant to say the least. And seeing as this is the first real talk with Shiro, with no one else around except his lion, he was kind of on edge.

“Lance,” Shiro finally spoke, snapping Lance out of his train of thought, and making him jolt, forcing his lion to swerve to the side, making Shiro and Lance shift along with it until Lance steadied them out.

“Wow, okay. My bad.” Lance tried to joke it off, knowing he’s not really giving Shiro a good first impression of his first hand piloting skills.

Shiro regained his footing and took his spot back standing beside Lance. “Lance is everything alright? You seem more distracted than usual.” Shiro could read him like a book, much to Lance’s dismay.

“Yeah, totally fine. Guess I didn’t get enough of my beauty sleep today.” Lance gave an exaggerated yawn, stretching in the pilot’s seat, peaking at Shiro who didn’t seem to be buying the whole act.

“You and Keith aren’t really the best at lying.” Lance’s face dropped when he heard Shiro comparing him to Keith. No matter what he did, he was always going to be compared to that guy. Even when he’s not even there. “Ah we’re here.” Lance looked around, and didn’t see anything but a whole lot of empty space.

“Uh...you seein’ something I’m not?”

“I guess we’re both little liars today.” Shiro admitted, getting a glance from Lance. “I asked Coran to give us some coordinates to remote location.”

“What? Why?”

“I told you didn’t I? We really could use the time to talk.”

HE HAD BEEN SET UP! And now they were in the middle of nowhere IN SPACE, and no one could get him out of this mess.

“Oh yeah right, that was a thing.”

Shiro moved so that now he was standing in front of Lance, who in desperation, gave a look similar to that of an innocent puppy.

"Are things okay? It seems like there's a lot on your mind today."

HE NOTICED!?

"Who me? Yeah I'm totally fine. Just trying to figure out just how so much awesomeness managed to fit into one perfect body." Lance lied, trying to act like his usual, hyperactive self, but Shiro wasn’t buying it.

“Look, I know a lot has happened recently, and it can be a lot to take in, but keeping things to yourself won’t be good for you in the long run.”

Lance knew that Shiro was just trying to look out for him, and to be honest with everything that’s happened, not just today, things were just going by too fast. But that was something he didn’t want to bring up at the moment. For one, he didn’t want to show people that side of him, let alone his hero, Shiro. And two, he had to clear the air about what he saw or else it was going to drive him nuts.

“Yeah, I get it. And to be honest, something has been on my mind.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

Lance let out a sigh, getting his thoughts in order and trying to figure out what he was going to say before speaking. “What’s the deal with you and Keith?” There, he went and asked but he almost regretted asking that the second it escaped his mouth after seeing Shiro’s reaction.

His eyes widened from shock, and his face, while faint, started to turn light red.

Is Shiro blushing?

That was a side of him Lance didn’t think existed. Shiro didn’t seem like the type to blush, and he was even trying to cover it up as we speak, but Lance noticed, and he wasn’t going to let it go.

“Sorry, I didn’t think that’s where you were going with all that.” Shiro admitted, composing himself and his blush went away as fast as it came.

“Well I noticed how close you guys are for a while not. Just figured you were like close brothers or something.”

“Is that right?” Shiro didn’t seem to be as bashful as he was when Lance dropped the random question before, and was much more composed learning this new bit of information. “It’s a little bit...complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“Complicated like, it’s a long story.”

Lance lounged back in his seat, making himself comfortable. “Well we got plenty of time since we’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Guess my little plan backfired on me.”

“Well I’m not called the “Ultimate Sharp Shooter” for nothing.” Lance shot one of his smug smirks, getting a chuckle from Shiro.

“Well I guess I should tell you how we met right?”

“A good starting point, yeah.”

“Well, it started back when we were both in the Garrison.” Lance visibly cringed hearing about the Garrison, but let Shiro continue without saying anything.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro was standing in one of the main hallways back at the Garrison, watching as new faces passed him by. Most seemed eager to be there, chatting about the flight simulator and bragging about how awesome they’ll be when they actually go on missions. It was an amusing sight, seeing as that’s how new recruits acted before they actually had to get in the pilot’s seat. He knew seeing as he was the exact same way when he started. As he continued to stand there and watch, he actually saw a familiar face come up.

“Shiro! Sorry I’m late!” It was Matt, running up to Shiro, his clothes sloppily thrown on, his hair was in a mess, and his overall appearance just screamed “I didn’t wake up on time and now I’m in a rush.” When he made it to Shiro, Matt nearly fell face first on the floor out of exhaustion before Shiro caught him.

“Come on Matt, no need to rush yourself if you’re running a bit late.” Shiro reassured, helping clean up Matt’s appearance making him look more presentable. “Though I was wondering what was taking you so long. Never pictured you as a late bird.”

“I wasn’t sleeping in or anything. I just had to give my sister a call to keep her updated on things.”  
“Ah right. Katie wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. She got on my case the last time I went too long without updating her and mom on missions, seeing as dad has been real busy lately. I guess time got away from me so I ran late.”

“Makes sense. Though you should need your little sister to nag you to call home.” Shiro joked, getting a playful shove from Matt. Though their little back and forth was interrupted when they heard a commotion nearby.

“Seriously! What’s your problem?!” Shiro and Matt took a peek to see what was going on, and they saw one of the senior cadets yelling at one of the newcomers.

“I already told you what’s wrong. I didn’t realize you were hard of hearing.” The younger cadet seemed uninterested, and maybe even a bit bored at the altercation, which just made the older cadet even more agitated.

“Do you think they’re going to fight?” Matt asked, kind of anxious about what they were witnessing, hiding behind Shiro as he peeked over at the two.

“Probably.” Shiro didn’t like seeing cadets fighting, especially when they’re just starting out. If anything, he was half tempted to just step in and stop it, but something was holding him back.

“I’m going to go get Commander Iverson.” Matt whispered before sneaking off as a small crowd started to form around the cadets, giving Shiro even more incentive to step in. But he was just a senior officer, he had no real authority to step in, but he didn’t leave. He watched as the older cadet continued to lose his temper and yell at the younger one, until he seemed to seriously go over the edge and grabbed the younger one by the collar of his shirt, making the crowd to make an uproar, and that was enough to make Shiro step in.

He forced his way through the crowd and pushed himself between the two cadets to break them up. “Alright that’s enough!” Shiro shouted, making the crowd go near silent, getting a few mutters here and there complaining that the fight was interrupted, but Shiro didn’t care. He looked over at the senior cadet, who seemed to be terrified that Shiro was there. “You’re the older one. You should know better than to pick fights with the new recruits.”

The guy was visibly shaken, but somehow worked up the nerve to speak. “W-Well he was the one that was having a bad attitude about my last flight simulation!”

“I was only telling the truth.” The older cadet nearly lunged at the younger cadet before Shiro shot him a glare stopping him in his tracks.

“That’s no excuse. You can’t let anger take over your sense of reason.” At this point the crowd seemed to die down and started to scatter when the conflict died down. As the crowd nearly completely disappeared, Matt returned with Commander Iverson, who did not look happy at all. [though that’s just how he always looked so it was hard to tell if he was angry or not].

“Just what is going on here!” Shiro and the two cadets stood at attention when Iverson spoke, the older cadet still looking visibly shaken about the whole thing. Shiro was the only one willing to speak up.

“Sir. It seems these two cadets were having a minor altercation after a verbal argument, so I chose to step in and break it up before things got out of hand.” Iverson eyed the two cadets, noting that the older one was still visibly shaken, and gave him a silent order for him to leave, which he gladly did without hesitation, disappearing around the corner in an instant. When he was gone, Iverson focused his attention on the other cadet, who didn’t bat an eye at the angry glares he was getting.

“Ah it’s you again. Haven’t even been here a month, and this is the seventh incident I’m hearing about you. Keep this up and you’ll be dropped from the program, do you understand me?” The cadet didn’t speak, and looked over at Shiro who just gave him a neutral look, and he looked back at Iverson.

“Crystal clear...sir.” His voice was monotone, and his expression said he didn’t want this conversation to continue anymore. With one last glare, Iverson left, leaving Shiro and the cadet behind, with Matt coming up to them.

“Hey, what happened after I left?” He asked, looking at the cadet, who started to leave the moment Matt started to speak, but Shiro wasn’t going to let that slide.

He went up to the cadet, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking any further, and turned him so they were facing each other. “I know I was letting the other guy have it earlier, but you should know that there’s two sides to everything. If a situation like that comes up again, maybe try to handle it better.” He wasn’t trying to chew him out or anything, Shiro just wanted to make sure something like this didn’t happen again. He couldn’t tell if his words got through to the cadet, as he refused to make eye contact with him, and brushed his hand off before walking away, not saying a word.

“Shiro, do you know who that was?” Matt asked, still trying to process everything that happened.

“No. I just know he’s one of the newer cadets.”

“That’s Keith. I heard people talking about him when I went to go find Iverson. Apparently he has a serious attitude problem and picks fights with anyone that tries to talk to him. Apparently people have quit the Garrison because of what he tells them. He’s bad news.”

Shiro looked back at Keith, who was almost out of sight at this point, sneaking a peak back at Shiro and Matt before rounding the corner to leave. Shiro let out a sigh when he lost sight of Keith, pressing his fingers against his forehead.

“I think it’d be better if you don’t try and bug him again. It might end badly.” Shiro knew that Matt was just trying to be helpful, but he didn’t want to listen to that kind of advice right now.

“Right. Sorry, I’m gonna go for a walk.” Shiro waved goodbye to Matt as he left him behind, following where Keith went without really thinking about it too much.

This was his first interaction with Keith, and he didn’t know how to process it. He could see where people got the “bad attitude” vibe from, but he didn’t seem to have any malice towards people. From what he saw, he was just blunt about things, and the way he presented himself and acted just seemed to give people the wrong idea. Shiro would be lying if he said he didn’t feel the same way when he first saw Keith’s interactions. But he didn’t seem to look for starting a fight, that was the other guy’s fault that’s for sure. This was just one big mess.

Without thinking, Shiro actually caught up to Keith, who was standing in front of the training bay, seeming to contemplate on whether or not to go in. People were passing him by, sneaking worried glances at him as they walked by, hoping he wouldn’t notice him, but he did. He seemed to be ready to just leave right then and there when Shiro came up.

“Thinking about getting so work out time done?” He asked, catching Keith off guard, practically making him jump out of his skin, relaxing when he saw it was just Shiro.

“What, are you stalking me or something?” He didn’t sound amused, maybe even a little bit annoyed at Shiro’s question, but Shiro brushed it off.

“Maybe, but not on purpose.” He tried to joke, just getting a confused look from Keith. “I was thinking of getting some sparring in before I head out today. Could use a partner for that though.” He tried to shoot Keith a look to sort of invite him to join him, but Keith didn’t seem into it.

“I don’t like sparing people.” He replied, not looking back at Shiro.

“How come?” Shiro was genuinely curious what the other was thinking, seeing as he was hard to read.

Keith didn’t answer, and seemed to be backing away from Shiro, as if he was trying to get out of this situation all together, but Shiro wasn’t going to let it go. He was committed at this point.

“You know, sparring is a good way to vent out frustration. I know I need it every once in a while when I get a little heated.” Keith’s body seemed to tense up when Shiro said that, making Shiro want to take it all back. But to his surprise, Keith spoke up.

“I take it too far…” He continued to look down, not looking at Shiro when he spoke.

“Huh?”

“When I fight-I mean, when I spar with people. I take it too far. Sometimes people get really hurt.It’s just not fun.” His words were soft spoken, almost in a mumble, but Shiro got the gist of what he was saying, and just smiled and gave Keith a pat on the back, making him stumble forward.

“That’s all? Then there’s no problem. I doubt you could take me on in a fair fight.” Shiro joked, trying to rile Keith up and get under his skin. It seemed to work.

Keith finally looked up at Shiro, shooting him a glare, and standing up to him. “Is that right?” His voice was firm, but a little playful, showing Shiro that his words really got to him.

The two of them went into the training bay, and went to a section in the corner that was blocked off from the rest of the room. It had padded walls and floor, making it the perfect place for two people to spar.

“First one to fall on their back is the loser.” Shiro stated, taking off his Garrison jacket, hanging it on one of the hooks on the wall.

“And the loser will buy the winner lunch.” Keith added, mimicking Shiro’s actions and hanging up his jacket.

“Fine by me. I hope you got enough money to pay for my meal.” Shiro teased, shooting Keith a cocky smile.

“That’s my line.” The two of them went to the middle of the room, standing across from each other, and took their fighting stances. They shot each other one last glare before lunging at each other.

Shiro went in for the first punch, aiming for Keith’s head, but it was easy enough to dodge, as Keith ducked under Shiro’s arm and went in to give Shiro a right hook to the face. Shiro brought up an arm to block him, grabbing Keith by the wrist and pulling him forward to knock Keith off balance, giving Keith a hard shove on his back, making him nearly fall on his face before Keith caught himself and threw his hands in front of him, hitting the floor and making his body flip forward, making him get his footing back.

“Not bad.” Shiro stated, before lunging towards Keith again, but this time he was ready for him. He swerved out of Shiro’s path, getting behind him, and giving Shiro a hard kick in the back, followed by some quick jabs to the side, making Shiro wince and stumble back away from Keith. Shiro clutched his side, wincing again when he touched it, getting a horrified look from Keith, who looked down at his clenched fist before looking back at Shiro. Shiro decided to brush it off, even though it still stung before lunging towards Keith again.

Keith seemed to be in a daze, because he didn’t realize that Shiro was closing in on him until Shiro was right in his face. Shiro snuck a foot behind Keith’s legs, pressing it against them as he placed a hand on Keith’s chest, giving him a hard shove towards the ground, making Keith fall on his back with a hard thud.

“Ow…” Keith groaned, rubbing the back of his head after the fall. Even though the room was padded, the fall was still pretty hard, but not as serious.

“Looks like it’s my win.” Shiro smiled, reaching out a hand to help Keith up. Keith just stared at his hand for a moment before taking it and pulling himself up. He just stayed quiet, looking down at the side where he punched Shiro, his face dropping when he realized just how hard he hit him. “Hey don’t worry about it. It was a good match.” Shiro tried to reassure him, putting a hand on Keith shoulder to show that there was no hard feelings.

They stood in silence for a while before Keith spoke up. “I guess I owe you lunch…” Shiro didn’t expect that to be the first thing to come out of his mouth, but it was welcomed.

“Don’t worry about it. Instead of lunch, how about you agree to be my sparring partner again sometime.” Keith looked up at him, confused as to why he said that. “Despite what you may think, I really enjoyed myself. And I think you could use some help working on your technique a bit.”

Keith gave him a little pout before looking away again, getting a chuckle out of Shiro. The two of them didn’t exchange any words after that, Keith silently nodding in agreement to spar Shiro again in the future, much to Shiro’s delight, and the two parted ways for the day.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“After that, it became our routine to spar each other whenever the one of us needed to vent out frustration, and for the most part, it was a successful trade off. I guess over time it just felt natural to be around each other.” Shiro shrugged, finishing off his story of how him and Keith first got to know each other.

Lance listened throughout the whole thing, surprised that that’s what happened to get those two together. “I never knew Keith was all mopey and junk when he first joined. I always thought he was a hot head.”

“Keith can be a handful, but that’s just the way he is. Though if I remember correctly, I never saw you two having any pleasant interactions with each other when the whole “Voltron” business that got thrown on us.”

“Hey! That’s not my fault! The guy couldn’t even take the time to remember that we were rivals back at the Garrison!” Lance shouted, still heated about him and Keith meeting again when Shiro came back.

“Well Keith’s not one to remember people easily. It’s not something that should be taken personally.”

“Yeah well it still sucks.” Lance pouted, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

“Look I know things aren’t the best between you two, but the sooner you guys can see eye to eye in some way the better it will be for all of us. We’re not individuals anymore, we’re a team.”

Shiro was right, Lance knew that, he just didn’t like admitting it. “Fine. But if Keith starts anything, you can bet I’m finishing it!”

Shiro just laughed at Lance’s comment before moving back behind Lance’s seat. “We should start heading back before the others start to worry.” Shiro suggested, with Lance nodding and taking the controls of the lion back.

“Yeah. I need to get back and eat something…” Lance groaned, his stomach growling.

“I thought you ate with Hunk and Pidge when you guys left.”

“Yeah well...I couldn’t enjoy it because I wanted to give Keith a piece of my mind, and when I went back to the training deck and saw you guys hugging-”

“Wait, you saw that?” Lance’s eyes widened as he realized he didn’t tell Shiro that little bit of information. Shiro’s face started to heat up again, Lance taking a notice to that but didn’t want to point it out.

“Let’s-...Let’s just get back.” Shiro stated, looking away from Lance as he tried to compose himself. Lance nodded, and started to fly back to the castle.

What have I done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down!  
> Again sorry for the wait guys, I'll try and update more faster in the future. Just life got in the way  
> Anyway, I hope you liked it, if you did leave a comment, it helps me get through making another chapter seeing people like what I write  
> Even if it's criticism that could help me write better, leave a comment  
> Love you guys <3


	4. Figuring Things Out - Allura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With all the other Paladins gone, and Allura unable to shake Lance's outburst before his leaving, she just has to get things in the clear and not just run on assumptions. So, what better way to do that than to get close to the only other paladin left in the castle?

Some time had passed since everyone left, leaving Allura and Coran behind to tend to the castle. It was tiring waiting for everyone else to return, or at least it usually was. This time Allura was happy to have some peace and quiet to collect her thoughts on things.

Coran couldn’t help but notice that she was in deep thought, and had to ask, “Something the matter princess?”

“It’s just, what Lance said about Keith and Shiro.”

“You’re still thinking about that?”

“I can’t help it. Because I never saw a human before their arrival, I never knew how different their behaviors were towards each other. The fact that they aren’t as open about thing like people were back on Altea, never crossed my mind before now.” Allura’s gaze never left the control panel, contemplating if she wanted to look up videos recorded across the castle.

“It’s not something to stress over princess.”

“I know it’s not. I’m just amazed with myself for not noticing things sooner. Or rather I did but I couldn’t put it all together.” Hesitantly, Allura brought up the control panel, pressing a few buttons, causing screens showing moments of Keith and Shiro together from the moment they arrived at the castle.

“What’re you doin’?”

“I’m pulling a Lance, and being stubborn about what I may or may not have seen.” Allura scanned through the videos, realizing just how often Shiro and Keith were together, without the her or the other paladins around.

“Well, it does appear those two are the closest out of everyone.” Coran interjected, twirling his mustache between his fingers as he scanned through the videos. Allura couldn’t help but stare at the screen for a while before making up her mind. 

“I’ll be back later.”

“Where are you going princess?”

“Just going for a walk around the castle, to clear my head.”

“Well, alright then.” Coran went back to making sure everything was in running order around the castle as Allura left.

Allura was blindly walking down one of the many hallways in the castle, focusing on her thoughts more than where she was going.

It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. All of the Paladins had lives before they arrived, and it’s wasn’t in my place to interfere with what may or may not have happened in their past, and what their relations are with each other. And even if I did know, what benefit does that have on anyone? It doesn’t interfere with our duties, and it probably would make the group stronger to have those kinds of relationships with each other.

Allura was letting her mind wander so much, she didn’t realize she walked to Keith’s room until she saw him come out in a tired state, nearly running into Allura on his way out.

“Huh...Allura?” His voice was slightly slurred as he was still in the process of waking up, his clothes slightly wrinkles from being slept in with his posture a bit slouched as he tried to correct his posture.

“Ah! Keith. I’m glad to see you are...well rested.” Allura didn’t mean to sound so insincere, but she didn’t expect to see Keith this soon.

“Uh-huh…” Keith was still in the process of waking up, so he was still half asleep. “Anyway, I’m going back to the training deck, so I guess I’ll see you later.” Keith gave Allura a lazy wave as he started to head for the training deck, until Allura stopped.

“Actually, Coran and I put the training deck on lockdown for the rest of the day.”

“What? Why? Did something happen?”

Allura took a few moments to figure out how she could phrase this properly. “Shiro asked if we could close it off for the rest of the day.”

“Why would he ask you to do that?”

“He was worried that you would try and get some more training in while he was out with Lance and wanted to make sure you caught up on resting.”

Keith just stood there for a few moment, processing what Allura said before asking, “He’s out with Lance?”

Allura didn’t expect to hear that from Keith, that’s for sure. “Yes, Shiro wished to speak with him about...an incident, so they left together in Lance’s lion not too long ago. Hunk and Pidge are out now as well to collect supplies while we have a moment of peace.” Allura explained, making Keith’s expression drop as she spoke.

“So everyone else left while I was asleep huh?” Keith state, not exactly towards Allura but more towards himself. “Wonderful.”

Allura couldn’t help but take notice of Keith’s sudden mood drop and stated, “I’m sure they all will be back soon-”

“What’re they talking about?”

“Huh?”

“You said that Shiro wanted to talk to Lance about something. Some ‘incident’. What is it?”

Allura realized that she backed herself into a corner, and didn’t know how to properly answer Keith.

“You know what, nevermind, forget it. That was a stupid question.” Somehow Keith’s mood seemed to drop even more, as he started to leave to head back towards his room, before Allura went up and stopped him.

“Wait, Keith. The ‘incident’ that Shiro wanted to talk to Lance about,” Allura took a moment to compose her thoughts before speaking again. “He noticed that Lance was acting a bit strange today.”

“When isn’t he strange?”

“No no, it was a little bit worse than usual. You see, after you all broke after training, Lance headed back to the training deck, and while he saw you two together, by yourselves, he started to question what your relationship with each other was like. He brought it to all of our attention, and seemed set on finding things out, but when Shiro came in, he didn’t wish to talk about it any further. Shiro noticed this and decided to take the time to talk to Lance about it. I’m not sure how their conversation will go, but that is all I know.”

After Allura was done explaining everything, Keith’s expression changed from a dropped mood to one that resembled anger or frustration.

“So what, were you just looking up our interactions or something to see if Lance was talking nonsense?” Allura just stood there, silent, unable to find a way to answer him. “Oh my god, you actually did that didn’t you?”

“No no, you don’t understand-”

“You couldn’t have just asked? You had to go behind my back and keep me in the dark about this whole thing?”

“‘Asked’?” Allura couldn’t help but pick that word out from everything Keith was venting, catching Keith off guard and stopping him mid rant.

“Nevermind, forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.” He went to turn to head for the exit before Allura stopped him a second time.

“Keith. The last thing I want you to do is to do something you don’t want. Just know that I don’t want to pry into your life if you don’t want me to. I’m just curious to learn about you, that’s all.” Keith just stood in silence, either unsure or unwilling to talk to Allura anymore, and she saw that in his body language. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, that wasn’t my intention in the slightest.” She hesitated to place a hand on Keith’s shoulder, not knowing if anything she did would be welcomed or not.

Keith brought a hand up, and opened his bedroom door, and Allura was willing to take that as a sign that this conversation was over, and move on, until Keith said, “Come inside.” Allura was shocked that Keith made that offer, but didn’t hesitate to take him up on his offer, and followed him in his room.

Keith took a seat on his bed, moving over slightly when he realized that he didn’t leave Allura enough room to sit next to him. Allura took a seat next to Keith, and sat in silence, waiting for Keith to start talking again.

Keith buried his face in his hands, collecting his thoughts, before speaking. “Shiro…” He let out a sigh before speaking again. “Shiro is the only person...aside from my dad, I could ever bring myself to talk to. At least at first?”

“Really? You’re really talkative to the other Paladins, I never would have expected that.” Allura stated, not realizing how harsh that might of sounded.

“Yeah well, Shiro helped out with that.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith was relaxing in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, contemplating on whether or not he wanted to go out. He had already passed the flight simulation for the day, with flying colors, and was free to spend the rest of the day however he wanted. The only thing he could even think to do was to go to the training hall and meet up with Shiro like he had gotten in the habit of doing in his free time, but he had a sinking feeling that if he kept it up that he’d get on Shiro’s nerves.

Just like he did with everyone else in his life.

Keith didn’t want to waste his time in the his room all day, so against his better judgement, he decided to go out. Whether or not he’d actually go to training hall he would play by ear. He made sure he had all his things in order and headed out of his room.

He couldn’t help but notice many other students hanging out in the hallway. Everyone seemed to have a few people they were meeting up with and already had their own little groups set up. Some of the groups shot Keith a look the second they saw him coming out of his room. He already knew most if not everyone had already made up their mind about him and gave up on trying to interact with him.

Keith was ready to just go back to his room and forget about trying to interact with other when he heard a familiar voice. “Keith.” It was Shiro.

“Uh, hey.” Keith gave a lackluster wave back, questioning himself on how he could look that lame.

“I heard you did great on your flight simulator today.”

“Yeah, it’s not that big of a deal.” He says that, but Keith was glad to hear someone give him recognition for his performance. Not even his teachers gave him that much.

“Are you kidding? You managed to get the top score overall. Completely wiped my score out, that’s for sure.” Keith didn’t really know how to take in all of the positive feedback. While he liked hearing it, a little voice in his head was telling him that Shiro was just putting on an act and playing nice, even though he knew that wasn’t true. Or at least, he thought it wasn’t true. Keith couldn’t bring himself to speak, not knowing how he should address the situation, still contemplating if he wanted to go back to his room or not. Somehow, Shiro seemed to pick up on this. “Hey I was just about to grab a bite to eat, want to join me?”

Keith was a bit hungry, not really eating anything for breakfast, and he had hoped to get some food while the dining hall was near empty. “Sure, I guess.”

The two of them walked together down the hall, Shiro acting like things were just like usual, but Keith couldn’t help but notice that people were staring at them. They were probably talking bad about Shiro now that they were walking together. Even though Keith couldn’t hear what they were saying, that thought wouldn’t leave his mind. He almost regretted taking Shiro up on his offer, but he couldn’t take it back now. Shiro would have probably taken it the wrong way and not talk to him again.

No. Stop thinking like that. There’s no point in assuming the worst right now. Just FORGET IT! Keith shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his head, but over did it and accidentally ran into Shiro, who had stopped walking without him noticing.

“Hey you alright?” Shrio asked, seeing that Keith’s mind was elsewhere at the moment, and he didn’t know how to process it.

“I’m fine. Just, trying to think of what to get.” Keith lied. He couldn’t tell if Shiro bought it or not, but he did go along with it.

“Well, whatever you get, it’s on me.”

“What? Why?”

“To celebrate your simulation score.”

“You’re still on that?”

“It’s a big achievement. Who knows, if you keep that up, maybe you’ll be able to come with me on real missions soon.”

Keith was shocked that Shiro would nonchalantly make a joke like that, getting his hopes up and everything. “Very funny. You really want to have someone like me on a mission with you?”

“I don’t see why not. After learning some proper discipline and working well as a unit, I can’t picture anyone else I want to be on a team with.” Keith didn’t want to take it to heart, but on the off chance that Shiro really wanted to go on a mission with him actually felt nice to hear.

“Yeah well, I guess I have to work on my anger issues huh?” Keith tried to joke, but it came out more serious than joking.

Shiro didn’t continue the conversation as the two of them picked out some meals from the cafeteria, and found an empty table in the corner of the room, Shiro surprisingly being the one to pick it out.

“How come your friend isn’t here?” Keith couldn’t help but ask as they took their seats and started to eat.

“Who, Matt? He had to go take care of some business with his father planning out a mission we’re going to go on soon.”

“You’re going too?”

“Yeah, the trip’s been planned for months now. We just need to get some of the final plans in order.” The fact that Shiro was willing to tell him all this nonchalantly was a little off putting, but Keith liked to hear him talk normally about future jobs to him.

Now if only he could do the same.

If I were to get better, maybe I could go on the mission too. Wait, that sounds too needy. Don’t say that. You’ll look desperate. Don’t look desperate.

Shiro seemed to be eyeing Keith as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say, making Keith feel even more awkward about the whole situation.

“So, uh, where are you guys going?” was all Keith could muster up as he tried not to force himself to eat to avoid talking.

“Kerberos. We’re going to go collect some ice samples to help study to see if there’s any forms of alien life.”

“Ice samples? Sounds fun.” Keith managed to laugh, genuinely, second guessing if he was willing to try and join in the trip now. Glad I didn’t show interest in it.

“Yeah, it’s not the most glamorous mission, but someone has to do it.” Shiro shrugged, not seeming to mind the boring trip. “It’s going to take a few months just to travel up there, so might as well figure out what to do in the spare time.”

“That’s a lot of time to waste.”

“You’re telling me.”

Keith and Shiro managed to talk back and forth for a while, exchanging stories, and just letting the time just fly by. Keith didn’t realize how long they were talking until they were given an alert saying the dining hall was going to close soon.

“Wow, it’s actually getting late.” Shiro picked up his and Keith’s plates, much to Keith’s dismay. “I’ll put these away and I’ll walk you back to your room.” Before Keith could refuse, Shiro left, leaving Keith back at their table.

Keith let out a sigh, figuring out what he was going to do now. Talking with Shiro was the one stress relieving thing he was able to do at the Garrison now, aside from training, and he wished that they could just keep talking. But he didn’t want to risk bringing it up, in case Shiro had something to do to help get ready for his mission. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it on this trip, even if he didn’t act...well, like himself. But, that shouldn’t matter for future missions. Right?

When Shiro made it back to the table, Keith got up and they both headed for Keith’s room. By now, everyone else had already gone back to their dorms, leaving just Shiro and Keith alone. For some reason, it felt more awkward now that it was just the two of them. Just him...and Shiro.

Stop overthinking things! This is nothing! Just like earlier when people were here. Just now it’s just...us. STOP IT!

Keith had to shake his head again to stop thinking so much, just this time he didn’t run into Shiro. Instead Shiro watched as Keith was trying to get his thoughts in order.

“You sure you’re okay? That’s the second time you did that today.”

Keith didn’t want to admit what he was thinking and just brushed it off. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you’re sure.” Keith didn’t realize that they were already back at his room, noticing that Shiro was just standing there with him for who knows how long until he actually noticed.

“Right. My room.” Keith opened his door, hearing a goodbye from Shiro, and closed the door behind him without saying another word.

He could feel his heart start to pound in his chest the second he left Shiro’s sight, and just stood in front of his door until he heard Shiro start to walk away. He didn’t understand why he started to feel like this just now. Maybe because he was able to process his thoughts now, and figure out just what he wanted to do now.

As Shiro’s footsteps started to die down, something came over Keith and he burst out of his room, running into the hallway shouting “SHIRO!”

Shiro instinctively flinched hearing his name echoing down the empty hallway, turning to see Keith standing outside his room, a fierce look appearing in his gaze that wasn’t there earlier in the day.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to go on that mission with you! So you have no excuse to be bored on your mission!”

Shiro just stared back at Keith, dumbfounded, before laughing from the sheer shock that he saw this side of Keith. “I’ll hold you to that.” Shiro waved goodbye one more time before turning the corner, leaving Keith alone again.

He headed back to his room, went over to his bed, and fell face first on it, burying his face into his pillow.

Why’d I do that? Why did I shout that? I’m an idiot.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“After that I tried to get more hours in the flight simulator, but I was a few hours short and couldn’t make it in time for Shiro’s mission.”

“And that was the one where he and Pidge’s family were abducted by the Galra?” Allura asked, surprised to see just how much Keith had opened up to her.

“Yeah. After that, I couldn’t bring myself to even try at the Garrison anymore. I lost my temper and in the end was dropped because I couldn’t work well with others and well, you get the gist of what happened after that.”

“I can see Shiro was a real support for you back then.” Allura was glad to hear a new side of Keith she didn’t know about before. Though as Keith told the story, she couldn’t help but see how much just telling that seemed to hurt Keith. Perhaps talking about such a hard time in his life was not the best idea.

The two of them sat together in silence for a few moments before Keith’s doors suddenly burst open, revealing a screaming Lance.

“KEITH!” Keith and Allura were shocked to see that Lance was already back, with Shiro close behind, trying to keep up with Lance. “So it’s true.”

“Wha-...What are you doing here?” Keith asked, getting up from his bed, annoyed that Lance just came in unannounced.

“Coran said that Allura was gone for a long time, and I just had the sneaking feeling she was with you. And I was right.” Lance shot Keith a glare, which Keith gladly returned without question.

“You’re freaking out over nothing! We were just talking! Right Allura?”

“Th-That’s right.” Allura stated, getting off of Keith’s bed as well. “Keith was just telling me some stories about your home planet.”

“If that’s all, you could always ask me.” Lance suggested, focusing his gaze on Allura now.

“Thank you, I’ve heard enough stories for now. Glad to see you two made it back in one piece Shiro.”

“Yeah.” Shiro looked over at Keith, who was still a little steamed about Lance, but was restraining himself. “Keith, can we have a talk?”

Keith just looked back at Shiro, not answering him but not rejecting him either. Lance and Allura just exchanged glances, before eyeing the exit.

“Well! I think I left Coran alone long enough. I should go.”

“Yeah yeah, me too.” As Lance and Allura started to leave, Keith spoke up.

“Allura.” She turned to seem him giving her a serious look. “No cameras.” Allura just smile and nodded as she and Lance left, leaving Shiro and Keith behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Finished a chapter super early  
> I hope you guys liked this chapter, and hope you can leave a comment to say if you liked it or not  
> I know I say that every chapter, but it always makes my day seeing new comments on here  
> Love you guys <3


	5. Let's Settle Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Shiro and Keith finally meeting up again after being questioned about their little "encounter" after training, how are things going to progress with these two? Will it end well, or bittersweet?

The air between Keith and Shiro was thick with the feeling of awkwardness as they were left alone in Keith’s room. Just the two of them. With no one else coming in and, hopefully, no unwanted cameras to have the others peaking in on them. It seems like that alone should make things not as awkward, but that’s far from the case.

Shiro’s usual calm and cool demeanor seemed to leave as soon as Lance and Allura did. He was nervously rubbing the back of his neck, trying to not make it obvious that he couldn’t look Keith in the eye. He would occasionally seem like he was about to say something, but then backed out at the last second, just letting the awkward feelings between them grow.

Keith could clearly see that Shiro had something on his mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Who knows what could have happened while he was alone with Lance. Then again, anyone spending too much time with Lance can’t be good for them in Keith’s mind. He didn’t want to keep thinking about this and just wanted to get things rolling.

“There was...something you wanted to talk about?” Keith asked, breaking the silence, catching Shiro off guard.

“Uh, yeah, right.” Shiro continued to avoid Keith’s gaze as he let out a long sigh, just making Keith question more about what he wanted to talk about.

Shiro finally lifted his head to look at Keith, seeing the look of concern and confusion he was desperately trying to hide (to no avail), causing Shiro to let out an inaudible chuckle as he made his way over to Keith’s bed. Keith didn’t take his eyes off Shiro as he started to take a seat on the left side of his bed, and without either of them uttering a word, Keith followed Shiro’s lead and took a seat next to Shiro.

The two of them sat silently, occasionally passing some glances at each other, neither seeming to be willing to be the first to speak. That is, until Keith managed to find the words he wanted to say the second he saw that Shiro was back.

“So, apparently Allura and Coran were watching some video of us from earlier today.” Keith stated, surprising Shiro with his statement.

“Was it from after our-or rather, _your_ , training session today?” Shiro asked, now making an effort to not taking his eyes off of Keith.

“Yeah. Exactly, actually.” Keith replied, actually surprised Shiro knew when he was talking about.

Shiro brought up and buried his face in his hands, with the slightest hint of a blush escaping from behind his fingers. Keith couldn’t help but notice this but didn’t want to say anything about it. Shiro let out another sigh before bringing his head back up. “I guess everyone saw it then,” Shiro mumbled, causing Keith to feel concerned.

“Everyone saw what..?” Keith hesitated to ask, having no idea what happened after he passed out from training.

Shiro nervously scratched his face, trying to figure out how to phrase it right. “Well...you were pretty worn out after training-”

“You don’t have to tell me. I was there.” Keith tried to joke to lighten the mood.

“Yeah well, you passed out while you were trying to start another session.”

“Of course I did.” Keith just shook his head, disappointed with himself in showing that side of himself to not only Shiro, but apparently Allura, Coran, and Lance of all people. “How fun.”

“So, after you passed out, you fell on me.”

“Yeah.? Sorry…”

“It’s fine, really, you were exhausted, it was only to be expected. And well, Lance saw it and didn’t know how to take it all in.”

“Why? What happened?” Keith asked, causing Shiro’s blush to return.

“Well, that is...um…” Shiro didn’t exactly know how to phrase it right, and just continued to stumble on his words for a few moments, just trying to say what he wanted to say.

Keith was about to say something like ‘ _ Don’t worry about it _ ’ or anything similar, but before he could even think of what to say, in one swift movement, Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith, and pulled him close. Keith could feel his whole body go stiff when he felt his chest start to press up against Shiro’s, feeling his heart skip a beat. Shiro just continued to hold Keith close, bringing his hands down Keith’s back and behind Keith’s head, making it so any possible space between the two of them was pretty much non existent. Keith couldn’t say he minded the interaction, but the fact it came out of nowhere just threw him for a loop.

“Honestly…” Shiro started to say, making Keith flinch slightly, but not forcing his way out of the embrace. “I never know when moments like this will happen. Moments where we don’t have to think of things like the Galra, or Voltron, or the fate of the universe and can just feel at peace. As if we’re just living normal lives again. And, in moments like this, where it’s just you and me, is when I feel the most at ease. I can’t really explain it properly in words, I just...like to take in as much as I can from these moments. Probably selfish of me to think that way, but I just, need to do this...”

Keith could feel his heart swell when he heard Shiro’s words. He knew the need to feel as if everything was going to be okay. He had to live with that feeling for as long as he could remember. It was like back when the Pilot Error announcement was issued. He just wanted things to be the same as they were before. So when Shiro finally came back, he had that hope reawakened, as if from there on out things could be normal again.

With a hesitant motion, Keith brought his hands up and started to hug Shiro back, his fingers digging into Shiro’s shirt as if he was desperately trying to make sure that Shiro wasn’t going anywhere. “I know how you feel. When I found out that you were the one that came back in that crash landing near the Garrison, I just wanted to do this. I couldn’t believe you were back, but everything just happened so fast, I couldn’t figure out what to do and just…” Keith stopped himself from saying anything else and just buried his face into Shiro’s shoulder. Thinking back to the time when Shiro was gone nearly made Keith want to break down, but he couldn’t do that. Not while Shiro was here.

Shiro’s expression softened hearing Keith’s words. Even though he enjoyed having Keith like this, he couldn’t stop his body from pushing Keith back from his embrace, feeling Keith tug at his shirt as he started to push him away. Keith looked up with a somewhat pained expression on his face and Shiro just felt his heart sink. He could only imagine how often he had this look whenever he wasn’t around. 

Shiro couldn’t help himself and brought a hand to Keith’s face, placing a palm on his cheek. Keith wasn’t sure where Shiro was going with this, but he couldn’t help but feel at ease, making Keith lean into Shiro’s touch, causing Shiro to give a soft smile. 

Whether it was the mood in here, or seeing Keith let his guard down or something in between, but Shiro couldn’t help himself. As if he was on autopilot, Shiro leaned down and lightly kissed Keith on the forehead. Keith’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked up at Shiro, who seemed to be just as surprised at what he just did as Keith. But Keith just smiled as he looked up at Shiro and reached up to his collar, and roughly pulled him into a kiss on the lips, making Shiro be the one to tense up, but quickly he relaxed and began to kiss Keith back.

Shiro tried to break away momentarily to get some air, but Keith was quick to pull him back into another kiss, even going so far as to wrap his arms around Shiro’s neck to make sure he didn’t break away again. It got to the point where Shiro gave up on trying to break away, and just let Keith choose when it would end. After some time, Keith broke away, happy to see a flustered Shiro lightly panting to catch his breath, oddly proud of himself for making him like this.

Keith couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, and when Shiro finally caught his breath, he gave Keith a playful glare before lunging towards him and pushed him down on the bed and started to tickle up and down Keith’s sides, causing Keith to bust out laughing from Shiro’s touches.

“Ahaha! Come on-Ha! Stop it!” Keith managed to choke out between laughing. Shiro was half tempted to continue, but he didn’t want to make Keith go through this too long, so he decided to quit while he was ahead. He let go of Keith, who continued to lay on the bed as he was the one that had to catch his breath this time.

“There, we’re even now.” Shiro joked, offering a hand to help Keith sit up, holding his sides as they ached from laughing.

Both of them let out a deep sigh after everything had calmed down, and when the two of them realized the little...incident the two of them had, and both of their faces heated up from embarrassment, making them look away from each other, sneaking glances every once in a while. They had to calm down (again), until one of them spoke up.

“So...that was…” Keith started, not really sure of what he wanted to say.

“Yeah…” Shiro replied.

“And we were just…”

“Right…”

“So...what does that mean for us now?” Keith was scared of what the answer could possibly be. Did he regret it? Did he go too far and make Shiro hate him now?

“I’m...not sure...We were both kind of in the heat of the moment…” Shiro started to cover his mouth with a shaky hand, making Keith believe that he took things too far and instantly regret everything.

“Yeah…” Keith looked down to the floor, trying to distance himself from Shiro, afraid of doing anything else to make things worse for the two of them. But as Keith was starting to move away, Shiro brought his hand to his knee to stop him from moving.

“I think, Keith, that we should wait until things are...calm again. When we’re not caught in the middle of questions from everyone else and tempers aren’t high, is when we should see what...this all is.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond. “So then...did you...hate what just happened?”

Shiro had to take a minute, his grip on Keith’s knee tightening slightly as he tried to process his thoughts. “I didn’t.” Shiro stated, causing Keith to relax.

“Well then, that’s good. That’s all I need to know.” Keith started to get up off the bed, Shiro let go of his knee, and he made his way to the door. “I’m going to head out first. Don’t want Lance’s imagination to run wild again.” As Keith made it to the door, Shiro silently got up from the bed as well, and made it behind Keith and wrapped his arms around him, pulling Keith into a hug before he could open the door.

“Even though I don’t know where this will go Keith, don’t feel regret for what just happened. I know I don’t regret anything when it comes to you other than not spending enough time with you.”

Keith didn’t know if Shiro could feel his heart start to pound from what he said, but at this point, so much has happened he didn’t care anymore. He brought his hand up and brought Shiro’s hands up close to his mouth, and pressed them against his mouth. “Don’t worry about something like this. I can wait as long as it takes to figure out where this is going. Though...I hope it doesn’t have to involve everyone else if and when it happens.”

Shiro continued to hug Keith for a few more moments until he felt like Keith was ready to leave because he did have a point. If they stayed in here too much longer, they would get more questions and strange looks from everyone else, and that’s the last thing they needed right now.

The two of them left and headed back to the control deck where Lance was continuing to try and court Allura who was trying to do maintenance checks on the castle, trying her best to ignore him.

“Ah, glad to see you two up and about.” Coran stated, seeing Keith and Shiro enter the room, catching Allura and Lance’s attention.

“How are you two feeling?” Allura asked, walking away from Lance who just couldn’t help but pout.

Keith and Shiro looked at each other for a moment and focused back on Allura. “We’re fine for the moment. But for the time being we’re just going to move on and focus on what’s ahead of us.” Shiro stated, getting a nod from Keith.

“Right.” Keith stated making his way over to his seat, catching Lance’s attention, who conspicuously made his way over to Keith while Allura and Shiro were talking about future plans for Voltron.

“Hey so, what happened between you two huh?” Lance asked, trying to act like the curiosity wasn’t killing him.

Keith just shot Lance an annoyed glare. “So is that a sign saying you weren’t spying on us this time?”

“Hey whoa whoa whoa. I was not spying. I was...accidentally spectating okay.” Lance said defensively, trying to act cool in the sudden ambush situation.

“It’s fine. Not like you did anything wrong. And to answer your question…” Keith looked up at Lance and shot him a smirk. “I’ll tell you when Allura actually accepts a date from you.”

Lance shot Keith a glare. “Oh is that a bet?!”

“You wanna make it one?”

Keith and Lance began to start one of their signature arguments, much to Allura and Shiro’s dismay, who could hear them clear across on the other side of the room.

“Glad to see they’re still their usual selves.” Shiro joked, getting a confused look from Allura.

“Speaking of ‘usual selves’, how are you and Keith?”

Shiro looked at Allura for a moment before looking back at Keith. “We’ll be alright. Just need to think things over right now.”

“Well alright. If the two of you need anything-”

“Believe me, I know you and everyone else are here for us. Just need, to get things in order right now.”

“Well, alright. If you say so.” Allura made her way back to the control panel to discuss things with Coran, leaving Shiro back to watch as Keith and Lance began the bicker more, unable to stop himself from letting out a quiet laugh.

_ Yeah, things will get in order...and I can officially make things better between me and Keith. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, but with real life situations I couldn't bring myself to write, and I didn't want to leave things up in the air  
> I don't know if this is going to be the final chapter or not, but I had to continue this somehow. I hope you guys enjoyed it for what it was.


End file.
